Very basic map that recreates the first level of the Nintendo game, The Legend of Zelda where very simple disign is located in every room and look extremely boring. Gameplay was very simple with enemies in each of the rooms and oddly enough a final boss which doesn’t fit at all due to the room height. The only nice thing was the gold bar at the end.
Overall Rating: 5%
Type: Singleplayer
Authors: Justin Mays
Download: Here
Quite short map with some simple fights with plenty of supplies about while looking for keycards and other such places to beat the map. Below average yet simple design with many odd texture choices and alignments throughout. Some annoying sounds constantly being heard by the flamethrower and some illogical layouts and structures.
Overall Rating: 10%
Type: Singleplayer
Author: Tomi Hakala
Download: Here
Simple design throughout with nothing of major interest to point out, as both structure and texture dont have anything special to comment on. Some bad choices here and there but there were a few simple shadings here and there. Gameplay is simple and easy to get though where nothing comes across as difficult. Nothing special here.
Overall Rating: 10%
Type: Singleplayer
Authors: The Warp Spider
Download: Here
Gameplay
Continuing off where the prequel left off, after the interesting introduction sequence you’ll take control of Carver where you’ll find some new weapons and voice acting throughout the mod adding something fresh once again. You’ll also come across some nice humour and some new characters during your ventures through both interior and exterior locations. Cutscenes are also existant and some other great scenes such as the car driving scene has some enjoyment to them. Firstly, the new weapons are quite balanced yet come across rather powerful tools against your enemies. Luckily those have some heavy recoil or long reloading times to makes things a bit more fair. The voice acting adds to the story much more and is pretty muched used through a majority of the mod, but the new characters’ phrases when they’re in combat do get repeatitive and annoying after a short while. They will also get stuck from time to time, which is a pain especially when they need to be in a certain area but can’t get to it. The mod is action packed throughout, although the enemies don’t come across very great easily tracking you down or being dumb from time to time, it can be rather enjoyable yet quite difficult at times. Especially during the interior levels such as the sewers as close combat takes place with them running into areas you’re currently in. Flow is good, with some good lengths between levels doing different types of objectives and trying to survive some long fights adding a sense of accomplishment to them, again staying quite enjoyable but may take a few tries during certain levels to get through them well. And finally, there is usually enough ammo and health about, with the odd large weapon storage areas during some points in the mod.
Design
Detailed throughout with a good balance between exterior and interior locations. The former has plenty of foilage about and a sensible landscape throughout, the latter being put together pretty well with some atmospheric lighting and tidy usage of design. The sewers had a nice touch to atmosphere being rather dark in some areas lit further down by the odd ceiling light, or during the level as it rains making the night seem dull. Objects have been used realistically making sense and don’t get in the way of the general gameplay except for the new characters following you around.
Conclusion
Brilliant sequel, action packed and enjoyable with great design but overall some gameplay flaws here and there.
Overall Rating: 89%
Author: The Matto Team
Download: Filefront / Patch v1.1
Gameplay
The seventh in the series of community build projects comes out as a short, sweet and enjoyable little mission. Gameplay is pretty much keycard hunting and getting into some balanced and fair fights. Places can get tight during the gameplay in some areas but nothing too troublesome. Nothing too hard to approach with plenty of ammo and health supplies about. An elevator closer to the end has a nice lighting effect but goes down rather slow and the last area is rather epic fighting off some battlelords but could have had a more interesting climax to the very least.
Design
Of course each mapper has their own styles but the theme is consistant throughout the map and sticks quite close in overall look. The first location I noticed, by Supertanker, resembles a similar style to Stephano’s industrial maps but either way each location has plenty of detail to make them look good. Mikko uses his simplistic yet effective style once again, while Steambull and DavoX have their parts a little more detailed. Some few misaligned textures in Stef’s part and some nice lighting here and there others but no major complaints overall.
Conclusion
Balanced gameplay and consistant design.
Overall Rating: 80%
Type: Singleplayer
Authors: Supertanker, Steambull, Mikko Sandt, Stef, Vector and DavoX
Download: Here
Gameplay
The mod starts off with a short cutscene of you sitting inside the back of a jet which eventually crash lands in a nearby city. Surving the crash and getting outside you start your journey with no weapons in a survival horror style enviroment. The first two maps start off quite dull, introducing you to some demons which have some dangerous attacks taking of large chunks of health from you. One particular demon’s fireballs are tricky to avoid but possible, however these beasts only take a few shots to take down. Throughout the levels you’ll find new enemies and bosses to fight against, where gameplay is mostly action with a few keys to find and horror pieces here and there. The mod gets a little more enteraining later on but things are quite hard from time to time if you don’t watch your back as enemies start to fire off more projectiles towards you. Enough ammo around but health can be sparse from time to time. Four new weapons are found within the levels, a bone used for melee attacks, a pistol which is rather slow and weak, a trishotgun packing a large punch at enemies and a heavy duty machine gun useful for making quick kills or mowing down large groups. The mod itself has a lot of interesting segments and ideas in there, but the flow through the mod can come across quite difficult and tiresome. The major concern is that the possibility of saving exists but it seems to only record the level status, not your progress which is a little bit of a bother when you get quite far.
Design
The design improves as you progress throughout each of the different levels. There are a few themes in this one, from city to sewers and amusement parks each with some decent structure. Some areas are however too tight when venturing throughout some areas, while the exterior locations remain quite open. Texturing isn’t too bad, however don’t add enough detail is certain areas of the levels giving it a basic look. However they have some well chosen sets for the later levels and aligned fairly well throughout. Lighting during the first few levels remains quite dark and dull but eventually gets better, especially in some of the interior locations, however nothing too special to comment on in this area.
Conclusion
Sometimes quite tiresome but can be an enjoyable experience with some good design.
Overall Rating: 78%
Type: Singleplayer
Authors: The Dark Conjuction Team
Download: Here
Gameplay
Set on the moon, with quite a different approach to the modifacation. As well as the setting, black and while visuals take over all the colour and silence is found throughout the short experience as some dramatic music plays in the background. Treated to a short opening sequence and credits before the main menu, we soon set foot on the moon with its vast and empty, winterlike landscape. A crashed shuttle lies dead behind you, while a vehicle awaits some distance in front to explore the area. Coming across a large structure built within the moon’s surface we soon learn the meaning of the title. The adventure starts here.
Gameplay
You take on the role as Adrian Shepard, needed to be taken out of stasis to do a job for the G-Man after the events at Black Mesa. This modifacation consists of five medium lengthed chapters each with a different setting to take venture through, while the gameplay consists of that found in the original game with a few nice effects here and there. There is a small mix of interior and exterior where the action takes place spread across the maps using elements already taken place in the original Half Life 2, but have a few nice additions and changes to make them a little different this time around. Some examples are the use of rollermines as they suddenly spawn on the roads when taking a drive, or the zombie infested areas. General flow between levels can be slow due to some large groups of combine soldiers and dull fights with them, especially during the second level. The experience is enjoyable but during the first few moments without any weapons and combine walking through their forcefields added a sort of epic, stealth feeling. Until ofcourse the crowbar was found. There should be enough ammo and health suppies throughout the modifacation, however I had a bit of trouble on the health side during the first two maps sometimes.
Design
Deffinitely some detailed enviroments throughout each of the maps, keeping a consistant balance within the setting. But some flaw here was the usage of many corridors, of course in different styles depending on the location but sometimes places lacked rooms. This can’t be said for all the maps though, especially the first and area with the large submarines. Structure throughout was decent, corridors used arched ceilings during some maps, ceilings in larger rooms had detail and the landscape with snow looked well made. One major complaint is the overuse of junk models such as barrels and other such items being scattered around the interior locations which gets boring after playing many other maps with similar filler attempts. Some of these do come in handy during the gameplay however, such as propane tanks for example. Locations were wide enough to venture through, nothing too tight and small and driving the vehicles on the roads never caused much problems. There were some design flaws such as in the first map, once out of the combine gates taking a left turn towards the woods stops at the skybox which looked odd. Lighting was moderate throughout out without any major complaints, bright enough in a majority of areas making flashlight usage to a minimum in larger areas. The last map however breaks from the typical styles found in the original game and creates something new, but unfortunatly affected by the corridor problems as mentioned ealier. An expanded version of this location with more rooms and places to explore would have done some major wonders. The texturing style however is nice.
Conclusion
Enjoyable gameplay which flows similar to that of the original game, with a few dull fights however. Five chapters in different locations.
Overall Rating: 85%
Type: Singleplayer
Authors: Bluestrike
Download: Here
